We are here at Gillette for Patriots-Saints

FOXBORO ‘ Just arrived here at Gillette Stadium for tonight’s preseason opener between the Patriots and Saints. It’s a nice, mild evening here in Foxboro ‘ a really good night for football. Here are some things worth looking for, and here are a few quick pregame notes:

‘¢The Patriots are currently honoring this year’s Hall of Fame honoree, San “Bam” Cunningham, so the plaza in front of the Hall is pretty crowded while inside the stadium is pretty quiet. Cunningham also gets the coveted spot on the cover of the “GameDay” program for tonight.

‘¢Looks like it’s going to be a good crowd in the press box. As is usually the case during the preseason, there’s a big group of scouts in attendance, including reps from Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Miami, Minnesota, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Seattle, as well as scouts from the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Not a whole lot of national media are in attendance for the game.

‘¢Tonight will mark the first preseason meeting between the Patriots and Saints since 2005 when the Saints took a 37-27 win in their first-ever visit to Gillette Stadium. The two teams have met in the preseason eight times and are tied at four wins each. Overall, the Patriots are 37-29 (.561) in the preseason since Robert Kraft first purchased the team in 1994. New England coach Bill Belichick has an overall career record of 34-27 in the preseason, including 23-18 with the Patriots.

‘¢Keep it here for updates throughout the evening. We’ll have pregame and in-game notes, as well as analysis. In addition, there will be plenty of postgame quotes, notes and analysis after things are all done.